The $1000-an-hour copywriter

A copywriter is a person who gets paid to write words for someone else. If you like to write, it’s a fine way to make a living. But it’s not a job at the top of the pay scale.

At least not normally.

But in some situations it can be. If you aspire to get paid $1000 an hour to write copy, you need the right experience, the right skills, the right reputation, the ideal clients, and the perfect situation.

What the $1000-an-hour copywriting job demands

These are the qualities that must come together for the $1000-an-hour copy job. And you don’t just need some of them, you need all of them.

• Creativity. Nobody pays $1000 an hour for boring text. We’ve got ChatGPT for that, and it’s way cheaper. The $1000-an-hour copywriter comes up with text so startlingly original and surprising that it instantly grabs readers by the brainstem.
• Copious writing experience. The $1000-an-hour copywriter has written tens of millions of bespoke words. They know words the way Simone Biles knows body dynamics or Meryl Streep knows how to inhabit a character. Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hours test is just the beginning — you’ll need a lot more hours of writing than that to get writing skill that’s worth $1000 an hour.
• Reputation. It’s not enough to be good. Everyone has to know you are good. That happens because you’ve impressed a whole lot of people along the way, especially people that know and talk to a lot of other people. Reputation isn’t one-and-done either — you need to be impressing people on a regular basis.
• Unparalleled listening skills. The copy has to fit the brief perfectly. That’s going to require you not just to listen carefully to the client, but to understand what they want. And it’s not enough to parrot back what they say. You need to connect with their soul and understand what they really want but can’t articulate. You also need to explain why parts of what they say they want aren’t what they really want, and get vigorous agreement in return. You’re part coach, part marketer, and part psychotherapist.
• Iterative brilliance. You’re not going to get it right the first time. The $1000-an-hour copywriter writes the wrong thing at first 100% of the time. When you write something wrong, you need the skill to elicit from the client why it is wrong, and then pivot to something that might be right. Of course, that second attempt is also wrong 99% of the time. To eventually get to right, you need to constantly and relentlessly be wrong and understand why.
• Other expertise. The $1000-an-hour copywriter doesn’t just know how to write. They know all about the client’s field. They’re an expert on software development or manufacturing or international relations or finance or advertising or whatever world the client lives in. That allows them to rapidly connect to the client and quickly understand the client’s worldview. An expert on the world of sports isn’t going to generate great copy for head of marketing of a systems integrator, and the systems integration expert will be clueless talking to the basketball team owner.
• Interpersonal genius. As a $1000-an-hour copywriter, you aren’t going to work with just one person. You’re probably also going to need to spend time with others that person trusts and has included in the process. That means you don’t just need to make one person happy, you need to get a small group to agree you did the perfect job. Triangulating among different personalities doesn’t sound like it’s part of the copywriting job, but it’s essential.
• A client who can pay. You can’t get $1000 an hour unless the client has money and a writing need that demands elite skills. So the client is either a high-net-worth individual or highly placed in a company. It’s not your buddy from third grade (unless that buddy is a senior executive at a successful company or became the world’s foremost expert in something people want to pay for).
• A job that’s worth $1000-an-hour copy. Most copy isn’t worth $1000 an hour. Instructions on how to install a cabinet are important, but not that valuable. Landing-page text isn’t that valuable, nor is a quarterly speech by the department head. Revenue doesn’t depend on the difference between good and great in those contexts. But the right book title could be worth $1000 an hour. So could a corporate tag line. (Who wrote Nike’s “Just Do It”? A brilliant copywriter.) Or a movie tag line (“In space, no one can hear you scream.”) The $1000-an-hour copy must be an essential element for the client to generate millions of dollars. It’s worth it.

$1000-an-hour copywriting is a goal worth aspiring to

Look again at that list. These are things you’d do well to develop in your career.

Creativity. Awesome wordsmithing. Listening. Connecting with people. Responding to relentless criticism. Powerful connections. High-stakes work.

You may eventually get there. You may not.

But regardless, the journey will be well worth it.

Doing this kind of work is fun. It’s a rare treat. It makes important people happy and it creates a powerful impact.

And if you ever get to do it, you’ll want to do it again.

The pay’s not bad, either.